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Brace keeps kids swimming, surfing and showering despite fractures

Brace keeps kids swimming, surfing and showering despite fractures

David Cudzilo, 13, was practicing running hurdles earlier this year when his foot got caught and down he went, right onto his wrist. It was broken.

Did this mean no surfing during his family’s upcoming trip to Hawaii and no more sports? Not for David. He got an Exos brace that is waterproof and removable.

Unlike a traditional plaster cast, which hardens and cannot be removed until it is sawed off, the brace, which is made of three layers of polymers and foam, can be removed and reapplied.

A doctor first fits the brace to the arm by heating it to about 105 degrees. Once it cools, the brace stays in that shape. But by pulling a string that turns a wheel, the brace can be removed for cleaning or when it’s time to start exercising the arm before going brace-free entirely.

Dr. Scott Smith, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at Texas Orthopedics, puts on about 100 braces a year. It only works for wrists and lower arms, he says, but the beauty is his patients can go to the beach, swim in a pool, shower and even scuba dive with it.

The showering is a big deal to many patients. Even though Smith always lets his patients shower with their plaster casts, those casts never really get dry, he says. The brace dries in about an hour, or you can use a hairdryer to dry it more quickly. You also can clean it, but you shouldn’t wash it in the dishwasher or the washing machine, Smith says, because that heat will mold it out of shape and you’ll have to return to the doctor to get it refitted. The one downside that is the same with a traditional cast is that the skin underneath sometimes itches.

The healing time is the same, Smith says, but because the brace can be removed and then reapplied, patients can start doing hand or wrist exercises sooner. And for patients who play sports, they can get back in the game sooner because the brace will protect them from further injury.

For kids who might be tempted to take it off and not wear it, there’s a lock that can be added for $10, Smith says.

Though the brace tends to be about $30-$100 more than a traditional cast depending on the insurance, it also can be used again. Jo Camper wishes her son Justin Sparling, 18, had had the brace the first two times he broke his wrist. Sparling is a skateboarder and reminds his mother of Evel Knievel. Now he has the brace to protect that wrist and the fingers he’s also broken whenever he skateboards.

Camper recalls what it was like for Sparling to have a traditional cast. Mostly she remembers the smell. “A cast really is nasty and stinky on a teenage boy,” she says. “They sweat and they stink really bad. This you can take off and rinse.”

And if Sparling should not remember to wear the brace and breaks his wrist again, he’ll already have a brace to heal it.

Because it’s waterproof, David was able to surf with his brace. His mom, Karen Cudzilo, knew this brace was a better choice for David because he’s so active. “It didn’t slow him down at all,” she says.

After he went surfing or took a shower, they just dried it with a hairdryer. They also could clean it with a little bleach.

“We love that cast,” she says.

The one downside is, unlike a plaster cast, you can’t have your friends sign it, but David didn’t mind. He didn’t want “a bunch of weird signatures” on his arm, he says. Instead, he chose the camouflage brace that suits his interest in fishing and outdoors. That was way better than a signed cast to him.